


Delicious Irony

by beautifulterriblequeen



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Aaravos is pretty, Baker Viren, Bakery AU, Gen, Peace in Xadia, Runaan in a chef's hat, Short & Sweet, but like the sweetest Viravos ever okay, this is so sweet it will rot your teeth you have been warned, very sweet, viravos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 08:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20042944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifulterriblequeen/pseuds/beautifulterriblequeen
Summary: Peace has come to Xadia, and the terms of the treaty are... delicious?





	Delicious Irony

“We are _not_ calling it ‘You Geyser So Sweet’!” Viren had protested emphatically. He, Runaan, and Aaravos had stood in the center of the dusty bakery, full of plans to renovate and reopen now that peace had broken out across Greater Xadia.

“It’s funny, though,” Aaravos said with an amused hum.

“People will get—the _wrong_—_**idea**_!” Viren stuttered out.

“Fine,” Runaan interjected, before Viren’s cheeks caught fire. “’Delicious Irony’ it is.”

And so the two elves and the human opened a cute little bakery on the main street of the capital of Katolis. The gesture of goodwill did not go unnoticed on any level. Many humans wouldn’t trust food prepared by an elf at first, so Viren did all the baking. He was especially gifted at making cupcakes, in a wide and imaginative variety of colors and flavors. The smells that drifted out onto the street from his oven thrilled humans, elves, and passing cats and dogs alike.

He also infused them with a little bit of Earth magic, now that he’d connected to a primal source—with Aaravos’s expert tutelage, of course.

Runaan, assigned by the Dragon Queen to be Viren’s official minder as part of the peace treaty, reluctantly proclaimed himself in charge of frosting and delivery. “It’s all about presentation,” he declared that first day, wielding a piping bag full of mint-green frosting and a fresh mint leaf in his other fingers. “You clearly need the expertise of a Moonshadow who understands the value of appearances or no one will buy these pastries, no matter how tasty they are.”

Which led directly to Aaravos’s contribution to the bakery: sitting out front on the broad sidewalk and slowly eating cupcakes all day long. Aaravos had shown the humans how to connect to a primal source, and more importantly for the elves, he had deactivated dark magic.

Viren had been at a loss for some time after dark magic ceased to work, but Aaravos had showered him with attention and instruction, until, to Viren’s surprise, he’d connected with the Earth arcanum. As Aaravos had always intended, naturally. He made sure that Viren ate some of his own cupcakes every day to gradually undo the harmful effects of casting dark magic for so many years. When Viren was extra busy baking, Aaravos would drag him to a halt and hand feed him a healing cupcake, taking great delight in the mage’s spluttery protestations and “accidentally” getting frosting all over his face.

During the peace talks, the only Star Touch in Xadia had refused the offer of a crown in apology for a thousand years of misunderstandings, choosing instead to spend his days among his beloved humans—and with one beloved human in particular. After all his years among the Star Touches, and then alone in the mirror, Aaravos wanted nothing more than to live a normal, earthbound life. Though Aaravos’s “normal” would have driven Runaan crazy in fifteen minutes. There was never _not_ a crowd of curious admirers chatting up the Star Touch outside the bakery.

Runaan had taken full advantage of Aaravos’s immense appeal and provided him with a cute bistro-style chair and table, a frilly umbrella for shade, and a three-tiered display stand laden with the day’s pastry samples. He and Viren could barely keep up with production, and on particularly busy days, they’d beg Aaravos to take a break so they could catch their breath.

Aaravos took plenty of breaks, though. Usually whenever Runaan headed out for deliveries, wearing his signature turquoise apron and his Moonshadow-white chef’s hat over his horns, while lofting a bright pink pastry box high so no one jostled it in the street crowds. Viren had once called Runaan the worst elf in Xadia when he had threatened to chain him to the stove for a wry comment about dark magic making the cupcakes taste better, so Runaan had sassily stitched “Xadia’s Worst Elf” on his chef’s hat. The hat always made Aaravos chuckle, though Viren looked more like he wanted to set it on fire. To protect it, Runaan kept it in a safe in his room at night.

A lot of Runaan’s deliveries went to the castle. King Ezran had his own baker who made jelly tarts just the way he liked them, but Rayla, bodyguard-slash-significant-pain-in-the-butt to the new-and-improved High Mage of Katolis, had developed a sweet tooth as soon as Runaan had taken up residence in town.

Runaan knew full well that Aaravos popped inside the bakery for a “break” the second he rounded that first corner on deliveries. But the Star Touch’s affection for humans, and for this one human in particular, had been good for Xadia, and for the peace negotiations. Runaan certainly wasn’t protesting his assignment (much), since it let him see Rayla every day.

Besides. He was getting _really_ good at piping frosting. And before Rayla’s next birthday, he’d find a way to work up his courage and ask Viren to teach him how to bake a _proper_ moonberry surprise.


End file.
